Commission Approves Quarry Operation

October 20, 1995|By NANCY THOMPSON; Courant Staff Writer

PORTLAND — Mike Meehan will be able to continue his brownstone quarrying operation for the next two years, thanks to the planning and zoning commission's unanimous approval of his special permit Thursday.

Unlike the old quarrying endeavors, which used oxen to haul hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of high-quality brownstone from the pits between Main Street and the Connecticut River, Meehan's operation is automated, relatively quiet and tallies its take in terms of cubic feet rather than cubic yards.

Meehan, a Cheshire resident who is president of Twin Oaks Enterprises, works nearly every day at the Brazos quarry near the intersection of Middlesex and Brownstone avenues.

He acknowledged the work is painstakingly slow and that architects are only now beginning to realize the stone is available.

Meehan, who has been quarrying for two years, estimated he has taken about 5,500 cubic feet of brownstone. He said he could use about one-half to two-thirds of the 400,000 or so cubic yards of stone remaining in the quarry.

He described his operation, with its 13-foot-long rail-mounted excavation system using two muffled jackhammers.

``It's state of the art, believe it or not, for quarries,'' he told the commission.

When he started quarrying two years ago, Meehan drilled holes side by side and used an inflatable air bag to split blocks of stone from the quarry.

Now he is experimenting with a powder that expands in the drilled holes, creating cracks and separating 20-ton blocks from the quarry's sheer cliffs.

There were few questions from commission members and no comments from the public at Thursday's hearing, which was continued from Oct. 5.

And there was no discussion on the motion to approve the special permit, which was granted on a unanimous vote.

Meehan sends the brownstone to fabricating plants in Vermont and New York. As part of a mini-revival of the industry that made the town famous, the stone has been used for buldings at Gallaudet University in Washington and soon may be found at other institutions, including Yale and Wesleyan universities.